'Modi on fire' leaves Congress workers with burn injuries in Shimla

A Congress protest in Shimla took a fiery turn on Monday when some party workers accidentally set themselves on fire while burning an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi after an eager participant lit a match as petrol was still being poured on the rag figurine. Four persons were said to be injured.

One of them was hospitalised in the Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital with serious injuries, a police official told IANS.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit kerala for two days from December 14 during which he would address the combined commanders" conference at "ins vikramadhitya' off the kochi coast.

During the protest, Chief parliamentary Secretaries Rajiv Dharmani and Rohit Thakur, former MLA Harbhajan Singh Bhaji and former Mayor Sohan Lal and Jani Prem were prominent to lodge protest.

In order to hide its failure to fulfil the poll promises of bringing back black money, containing price rise and providing employment to the unemployed youth, the Modi-led BJP government was trying to divert the attention of the general public by targeting Congress leadership, Sukhu said.

However, the statement was silent on the incident in which the Congress workers suffered burn injuries.

A protest by some Congress workers took a fiery turn on Monday when they accidentally set themselves on fire while trying to burn Prime Minister Narendra Modi's effigy in Shimla.

According to reports, at least five Congress activists sustained burn injuries.

The protest march was held by the Congress workers against NDA allegedly targeting Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case.

The fire got out of control when an eager participant lit a match as petrol was still being poured on the rag figurine, reports Hindustan Times.

The incident took place near Deputy Commissioner’s office where PCC president Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu had led a peaceful demonstration after the party’s call for state-wide protests.

Two party workers suffered minor burn injuries and one of them identified as Manoj Adhikari had to be rushed to hospital. He is out of danger now.

Eyewitnesses said the party workers, who had assembled close to the Central Telegraph office (CTO), were raising anti-Modi slogans

“A Sikh gentleman had turned up with a bottle filled with petrol and poured on the effigy amidst slogans and cheers. The fire flared -up and engulfed some of the activists,” a party leader told Indian Express.

A Congress protest in Shimla took a fiery turn on Monday when some party workers accidentally set themselves on fire while burning an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi after an eager participant lit a match as petrol was still being poured on the rag figurine. The protest resumed shortly thereafter.

Congress sources said the clothes of a few people caught fire in the melee. Two party workers suffered minor burn injuries and one of them identified as Manoj Adhikari had to be rushed to hospital where he was said to be out of danger.

The protest was led by Himachal Congress chief Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu over alleged vendetta politics being pursued by the Modi-led NDA government at the Centre. Similar protests held elsewhere in the state passed without incident.

Sukhu said the NDA government had a malicious agenda against his party as government leaders were working under the slogan “Congress Mukt Bharat (Congress-free India)” announced by Modi in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

“And to follow the BJP’s petty vendetta politics, a completely misconceived private complaint was instituted by Subramanian Swamy, a member of the BJP’s central committee, which is aimed at sensationalism, political revenge and a shoddy attempt to malign the Congress party leadership,” he said.

As the Congress workers tried to set Modi's effigy on fire, a can of diesel exploded leaving four of them injured. One of them was hospitalised in the Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital with serious injuries, a police official said. Sukhu said the NDA government had a malicious agenda against his party as government leaders were working under the slogan "Congress Mukt Bharat (Congress-free India)" announced by Modi in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The protest was against Modi government for allegedly carrying out political vendetta against the Gandhi family and Virbhadra Singh. Gazette Standard http://gazettestandard.com/2015/12/14/cong-workers-accidentally-set-themselves-afire-while/

"And to follow the BJP's petty vendetta politics, a completely misconceived private complaint was instituted by Subramanian Swamy, a member of the BJP's central committee, which is aimed at sensationalism, political revenge and a shoddy attempt to malign the Congress party leadership", he said. In a statement in Shimla, they said while the police and administration stopped BJP workers from burning an effigy of the Chief Minister and registered cases against them, it remained a mute spectator to burning of effigy of the Prime Minister. However, the statement was silent on the incident in which the Congress workers suffered burn injuries.